Not the Usual Suspects
by Jarakrisafis
Summary: Red Alert and Wheeljack used to work together as saboteurs... 'Cons beware.
1. Not the Usual Suspects

Spawned from yet another bunny abandoned at the tfbunnyfarm. I swear I need to stop browsing that place or I'll never get anything done: Red Alert and Wheeljack used to work together as saboteurs. Red Alert took down security systems, and Wheeljack made the place fall.

* * *

The completion of a holographic training room in the base had been a cause for celebration. After all, nobody was sure how many more training injuries Ratchet could take without violently offlining the next bot to step into his realm.

The simulator was linked to an internally loaded program and to weapons systems, which when activated allowed weapons fire and damage to be calculated by the program and it would cause systems to react as they would to damage. But there wouldn't be the actual physical damage, thus no grouchy, murderous medic.

Somewhere in the party to celebrate this fact somebody had turned up with homebrewed highgrade of which a large portion had now been consumed.

Thus it was no surprise that a large portion of the bots were pairing up and placing bets on who could get furthest through a scenario involving a large Decepticon base, a segment of data that had to be recovered or removed and the order that as much damage be done as possible.

The success rate for completion of the mission was exceptionally low, most bots simply using it as a simulation with lots of enemies to blast.

Running out of pairs to take part in their scenario the group turned to those around them, one of these being the security director and his partner. Inferno had managed to pull Red Alert away from the control room and they were listening in to the conversation with only half an audial before one of the gathered bots suggested they join the group, since they were already a pair.

The gathered bots had expected both to say no outright, thus they were surprised when after a small huddled conference, Red had agreed to take part, but not with Inferno.

Red Alert insisted he and his as yet unknown partner could not only get further than anybody else, they would actually finish the scenario. Most assumed it was the high grade talking and the bets were adjusted accordingly.

Several sets of optics slid over to observe Red when he walked into the observation room several days later.

"Jazz and Mirage finished the scenario; you have seventy two percent data retrieval and forty nine percent damage to beat." Ironhide informed him.

Red nodded as he watched two of the Protectobots taken down before they even made it inside the base.

"Where's your partner?"

"Right here." Several sets of optics blinked as they regarded the engineer.

"Wheeljack?" even Ironhide looked surprised, "You sure about this Red?"

"Quite sure." The security director said as he and Jack made their way over to the door where Streetwise and Groove were exiting the simulator, laughing to each other as they waved to the elder bots.

"Ok, if you're sure about this." Ironhide's voice came over the intercom, "Sequence commencing in three, two, one."

The room before them rippled, quickly becoming a tangle of metal buildings in various states of repair, with metal, ceramic and crystal littering the ground, making moving quietly a challenge.

Both bots immediately moved into cover, Red sliding around a doorframe as he unsubspaced a rifle, Wheeljack crouching behind some rubble as he muted his fins to avoid giving himself away.

The two stayed silent and still as a Decepticon patrol passed by before easing out of their hiding spots and moving to the next available cover.

The bots in the control tower watched as the two managed to work their way through the maze of streets without being seen or heard by the various patrols which routinely swept the area.

Red peered around the building he was using to hide behind at the area of ground surrounding the base. The cons had razed the houses to a melted slag to avoid any attackers using the buildings as shields. It also made creeping up to the base virtually impossible.

Twisting round to look at Jack he shrugged. The door they were aiming for was a small back entrance to the complex. What had originally before the war been the cities official information hub and the enforcers' offices had been re-commissioned as a small out of the way Decepticon communications base.

Unfortunately it had picked up a rather important transmission. Unfortunate for the Autobots as it could mean the loss of several strategic positions once the Decepticons decoded the information and forwarded it to the main bases, unfortunate for the base because it had just become a priority target for the Autobots.

The Decepticon base however remained oblivious to its sudden rise in status and its occupants were blissfully unaware of the approaching danger.

Thus the small door Red and Jack were watching had no guard, unlike the main entrance on the other side of the complex, the cons instead relying upon the highly advanced security systems to warn them if the door code was changed, hacked or otherwise tampered with.

Had they known what was coming they would most likely have had several very angry cons stationed behind it, regrettably they were not there to witness the two Autobots slink out of the buildings and dash for the door.

Nor did the security system register more than a faint blip, which its self diagnostic attributed to a small power surge and thus not worth sounding the alarm.

Several bots up in the control room swore as they watched the door open to let the two slip inside, quite a bit of money had been resting on them being caught trying to get inside, given that the only pair to manage it so far had been Jazz and Mirage. They had been forced to split up when they set off one of the back door alarms, Mirage going in under cloak and Jazz keeping the cons outside of the base busy.

Once inside the two bots split up, Red Alert sneaking to the centre of the complex, avoiding cons and cameras as he went, Wheeljack on the other hand strolled through the corridors with no such regard for things such as security systems.

"What is he doing?" One of the bots in the control room asked as the computer tracked the apparently suicidal engineer and the Decepticons closing in on him.

"I have a bad feeling about that." A hand pointed to the screen. Most of the bots took a reflexive step backwards, despite the fact that it was firstly a simulation and secondly, they were in a solid, well reinforced control room.

The bad feeling was borne out as the screen which had been tracking the engineer turned white for a moment as the object Wheeljack had been casually tossing between his hands was lobbed at a the group of approaching Decepticons.

When the screen cleared it showed several disorientated Decepticons, but no trace of the engineer.

"Who the frag keeps flash grenades in subspace?" One of the gathered bots asked as Ironhide reset the controls to lock onto the elusive bot.

"Wheeljack apparently." Another deadpanned as they settled back into watching the show.

Ignoring the shaking of the base as several localised explosions occurred somewhere below; Red tilted his head at the door to the communications hub.

Jack was creating enough trouble by leaving explosives throughout the lower levels that most of the control staff were likely to be tracking him and sending instructions to the cons actually attempting to apprehend him, that meant with any luck none of them would be watching the camera which was trained on the very door he needed to get through.

Slinking forwards he ignored the number pad, instead flicking the dataport cover below the pad out of the way and jacking into the system. Numbers and glyphs flashed over his vision as he started dismantling and rebuilding the coding which was meant to stop the door from being hacked, casually over-riding the alarm as he went.

Pulling out of the connection he unhooked his data cable before carefully punching in the new code to the door panel. It opened with barely a sound, the three cons inside didn't even bother to turn around, their optics glued to the monitors as they tried to hem in the menace that was slowly destroying their base.

Pulling out his rifle he calmly levelled it and took out the three cons in quick succession, at this distance even he couldn't miss.

Rolling one of the offline bodies out of the way he took over the console.

Hacking into the system from the mainframe made his job a lot easier as he locked the door to the control room and began searching for the mission sensitive data.

Keeping half an optic on the cameras he continued giving the cons instructions and closing doors around the base.

Down below Wheeljack grinned as a door slid shut behind him. Finally! He'd been starting to get tired of having to blast through doors that were slamming shut in front of him. Especially since there was a finite amount of ammunition even he could carry.

With Red now keeping an eye on the cons and hindering their search for him, it was time to get to the favourite part of his job.

Turning to look at one of the cameras mounted on the wall the engineer held up a detonator and mimed running.

Up in the control room Red laughed as he accessed the camera controls and moved it in a clear up and down pattern. The data had completed its download and been wiped about a breem ago, he'd just been amusing himself by sending the cons round in circles.

Skidding over the debris on the ground Red swerved into the shelter of one of the buildings, Wheeljack right on his aft as the ground trembled beneath them.

Knocking ceramic dust and crystal shards of his frame Red poked his head out of his cover to stare at what had been a building not two breems before. "Impressive." He said as Jack poked his head around the security director to regard the crater in the ground with an evaluating look.

"Not big enough."

Red ignored the quip as the two of them set off towards the point they had started from, easily avoiding the remaining Decepticons who seemed quite spooked by the sudden reduction of their base to little more than rubble.

Reaching the designated extraction point the two bots were greeted by the appearance of a door as the buildings behind them melted away.

"How did you do that?" One of the assembled bots asked as the viewscreen behind them still showed the utter destruction wrought on the Decepticon base.

Wheeljacks fins flashed a bright green in amusement, "who do you think took the original mission?"

Red smirked behind his mask as the whine of processors locking up filled the room. Serve them all right for making him glitch. Vengeance could be so sweet.

Tilting his head at the rebooting bots Wheeljacks fins flickered again, "I suppose we shouldn't tell them about any of the other missions either?"


	2. Same Explosion, Different Day

Red Alert and Wheeljack didn't always go on missions together - sometimes they went as part of a bigger team, but that didn't always ensure the mission would go any smoother.

"You guys have to come watch this." A datachip was waved in the air before being inserted into a console. "You know the ambush my patrol planned last cycle, well, one of the cons had this." The file started to play in the background.

"Security logs?" A mech asked from amongst the group that had wandered over to look.

"Not just any security logs. These are from the outpost in Verizon Helix sector."

"Cons took over that ages ago."

"You obviously haven't heard the reports then." The mech looked positively gleeful as he paused the datachip so he could deliver the news. "Verizon base was destroyed, and rumour has it that the Wraiths were responsible." He pointed at the frozen screen behind him. "And this is the proof, according to the chip it's the backup security footage from the base." Mechs scrambled from all over the rec room to crowd around the screen as the mech restarted the recording.

Security lights flooded the area around the base. Sheltered behind some debris from a previous conflict five mechs stared out at their objective.

:You're up Hunter: One of them sent on a short range comm band as they all ducked as a flashlight on an automatic sweep passed over their outcrop of scrap. Despite all being painted a monotone dull black to help avoid sensors they weren't taking any chances.

Hound huffed slightly, still new enough to ops that using code names wasn't natural. Activating his hologram generator several well armed mechs leapt up from cover near the front of the base. The response was immediate, all base defences and lights turned on the intruders, who dove back undercover, just popping up long enough to ensure they kept the cons attention and not long enough for weapon fire to pass straight through them and give away they weren't real. None of the cons noticed three black shadows and a wavering patch of atmosphere dash towards the rear.

"Ok, I still don't see anything." One of the audience said. The mech who had brought the datachip in rewound the security feed they were watching "You were all watching that side weren't you?" He gestured at the side of the screen showing the main entrance before restarting the recording and stabbing a finger at the half of the screen showing the darkened back entrance. "I had to watch it a couple of times to spot them."

Under his finger the profile of three mechs was just discernable as the rear entrance was expertly hacked and the three shadows entered the building. Almost simultaneously the Autobots advancing on the front door turned tail and ran.

The security feed switched to a variety of internal cameras, all showing different corridors and rooms within the base. "Now is where it starts to get good." The mech said as every pair of optics remained glued to the screens and the three black mechs now standing around.

:I remotely initiated a replay loop in the security centre when I hacked the security systems to get the door open. It should hold until they actually see one of us and start asking why security hasn't picked us up. I'll be able to wipe the backup security footage entirely when I have full access:

:Excellent Wildhack, get up there then and take full control. Supernova, energy generator, and for Pit's sake make sure you don't activate the timer till we're on our way out this time. Illusion, we're heading to the command centre, I'll meet you there: The two visible mechs nodded before setting off while a double tap on his shoulder plating let Jazz know the fourth had understood.

"Here we go." Somebody said as the three mechs began to move. The smallest one made a straight-line for a ventilation duct in the ceiling, leaping up and clinging to the wall as he removed the cover before shimmying inside and out of view of the surveillance, although it did catch the grating being thoughtfully pulled shut behind him.

The other two split at the next intersection, both using very different strategies for reaching their objectives without being caught. One of them withdrew a Decepticon symbol from his subspace and casually stuck it to his chestplates. Obviously he was also broadcasting a Decepticon signal as he passed several cons who all looked slightly confused at his presence but otherwise ignored him.

The other one however took a much more direct route to his destination, thus avoiding any cons. Well, avoiding them until the first one came across the newly created hole in the floor.

"Well, that's one way to get around con patrols." Somebot said as they watched the screens start to track the explosive infiltrator as the security mechs finally worked out they were being fooled. Unfortunately their focus on the one mech left the other three to roam at will. Then again, to security mechs the one blowing up reinforced blast doors with explosives taken out of his subspace is probably the more dangerous.

The mechs watched with open admiration as the pursuing cons were forced to come to a stop as they regarded the laser tripwires liberally crisscrossing the corridor and the mine charges ready to go off in a chain reaction if only one laser is tripped. The original owner of the mines continued to saunter down to the power generator, showing no sign that he was worried about the Decepticons figuring out how to get through his maze.

Meanwhile in another corner of the recording one of the screens showed a grate being slowly pushed back, the infiltrator again thoughtfully replacing the grill before slipping through the doors into the control room.

He made quick work of the four Decepticons inside, all of them falling within quick succession.

"How did he do that? He didn't even touch those two!" A bot exclaimed as he took over the controls to replay the segment of recording.

Pulling his knife out of the second Decepticon Jazz ambled over towards the commander's desk, nodding a thanks at his invisible partner as he went.

"There!" Several fingers pointed as the air seemed to shimmer, revealing another black form right before two of the Decepticons collapsed, before it wavered out of view again. "One of them can go invisible. Wonder if he knows the Tower Noble from Primes group?" Several sets of armour rippled in shrugs as they settled back down to continue.

Rifling through the datapads Jazz started to copy the contents while Mirage kept an eye out for any mechs heading their way.

:Uhhhhm Tempo.:

:I don't like that tone: Mirage said before Jazz managed to answer.

:What's up Nova?:

:Well, you see, the thing is, I've sort of, well... started a chain reaction in the power generator.:

:I told you I didn't like that tone.:

:Hush Illusion. How long have we got?: Jazz asked, resignation clearly lacing the comm. tone.

:Ah, enough time to get out?: the fact that he phrased it as a question didn't do anything to reassure the other three.

"What's happening?" The audience was looking confused as the mech who had just been about to enter the security room froze before returning his weapon to subspace and sauntering off, very much the bored Decepticon warrior. And the other two mechs started to subspace datapads rather than copying them, looks of mingled amusement and annoyance on their faceplates.

"This would be the time they work out that the one at the generator just started to blow up the base."

Having collected the last of the datapads the mech, and they assumed his invisible companion, set off towards the nearest exit, any attempt at stealth now a foregone conclusion.

:Remind me to murder Nova.: Jazz said on a shortwave to Mirage as the two of them ran for the exit.

:Will do and you ca.: whatever he was going to say was cut off by a scream of glee.

:Yeeeehaaaaaaaaaar: Wheeljack hurtled through his intricate tripwire system at the top speed his hovertransport alt form could manage, the Decepticons waiting at the other side of the barrier simply staring as he barrelled past, the multiple explosions following directly on his tailpipe.

He took the turns without slowing, the cons that had been intelligent enough to get away from the mines breaking off one by one when they decided that catching him wasn't worth flattening themselves on a wall.

Slinging himself around the last turn he caught several muffled curses from above but he didn't stop to look back, the generator would be reaching critical soon.

Demagnetising himself and Mirage from the roof of the corridor, which had been the only safe place available when Jack had barrelled past, Jazz stared after his engineer.

:You remember what Wrench said.:

:If Nova runs, try to keep up?:

Both mechs stared at each other for half a click longer before they hit the ground in alt form and followed the trail of skid marks and reeling Decepticons that Jack was leaving in his wake. They collected Red Alert by almost flattening him again as he was just picking himself up after throwing himself to the floor to avoid the first insane driver.

They emerged through a hole in the wall where the back door should have been, a clear sign that Wheeljack had passed by and sped across the desolate landscape, Hound falling in beside them as they passed his hiding place.

The watching mechs sighed in disappointment as the cameras all cut off in a film of static as the base exploded and the transmission of the security feed to the nearest intact base was disrupted.

"I know it's not from the same source, but this is what it looks like now." The mech said as he brought up a still image of the crater that occupied the same spot the base had not long before. A few support struts from the supposedly bomb proof basement still sticking up.

:Oooops.: Several pairs of optics narrowed as they regarded the engineer, who despite his apology was not looking at all sorry.

Jazz booted up his vocaliser; then cancelled what he was about to say and simply settled for shaking his head.

:Only you could blow up a generator which is supposed to be able to survive a city mech firing on it at point blank range.: Red Alert finally said.

Wheeljack simply flashed his head fins happily. :True, but you have to admit, it was a good boom...:


End file.
